U-M ROTC nursing grad carries on family tradition handed down by grandfather and brother

"I was known as Kozlowski point two." Ensign Kim Kozlowski, on following her brother, Johnny, in the U-M ROTC.

When Kim Kozlowski, 22, graduated from the University of Michigan Naval ROTC program last weekend, she not only earned a degree in nursing, along with the rank of ensign. She carried on a family tradition, following in her grandfather’s and her brother’s footsteps.

While her brother, Lt. (junior grade) Johnny Kozlowski, a Navy pilot stationed in Japan, couldn’t attend the ceremony, he did participate. With the help of Skype, the 6,000-mile gap was closed and the big brother who had inspired his sister to join the Navy administered Kozlowski’s oath.

And before audience members at Friday’s ROTC graduation ceremony could dry their eyes, they had to reach for a second Kleenex. When it came time for Kozlowski, who grew up in Saline, to receive her first salute, her 92-year-old grandfather who inspired her to become a Navy nurse, gingerly lifted himself from his wheelchair, struggled to get his footing and then stood ramrod straight and snapped a crisp salute.

Kozlowski said it was because of her grandfather and brother that she found herself as a nursing student at U-M ROTC.

As they were growing up, John Kozlowski Sr. would tell his grandchildren stories of the times he served as an Army medic during World War II, when he was stationed in Europe as the war raged. They were exciting and harrowing times: He would retrieve injured soldiers from the battlefield and even performed a number of amputations on the battlefield, Kozlowski said. “He talked about how fast-paced it was, but also about how many people he helped.” By her sophomore year in high school, Kozlowski knew she wanted to be a nurse.

But she wasn’t as sure about joining the military.

Her brother wanted to be a pilot since he saw the movie “Top Gun” as a youngster. He started in the Naval ROTC at Eastern Michigan University and transferred to U-M after two years. He convinced his sister to join him at U-M in the Naval ROTC program, where she’d be awarded a scholarship to cover all of her tuition along with a stipend to help with housing. Johnny Kozlowski was a senior at U-M ROTC when his sister was a freshman. “I was known as Kozlowski point two,” she said.

Navy tradition has newly minted officers pay a silver dollar to the enlisted member of the military – active duty or retired – of their choosing. “I told my grandfather a while ago I wanted it to be him,” Kozlowski said “He’s a pretty reserved guy, but when I asked him, he had a big smile on his face…. He was really proud.”

ROTC graduates can also select who administers their oath, and Kozlowski had hoped her brother would be able to come home on leave to do the honors. “That was the goal, but the timing didn’t work out,” Kozlowski said. “The military comes first.”

That’s when Kozlowski asked her commanding officer about Skype.

They did a dry run over Skype the day before. On graduation day, her brother was patched in using a borrowed iPad 15 minutes before the ceremony at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum on North Campus began. Johnny Kozlowski administered the oath to his sister without a glitch, officially making her an officer.

It was a moment that made a parent proud, said Kozlowski’s mother, Joan Witte. “It was one of the proudest moments of my life, and a time when technology allowed us all to come together for this amazing moment,” she said.

Kozlowski will be stationed at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. She reports for duty June 26.